Mount Pleasant Magazine March/April 2018

66 www.MountPleasantMagazine.com | www.MountPleasant.Pet | www.MountPleasantBuilders.com feature see a composition made of thousands of dots, dashes and brushstrokes. “I seek to build a painting in a method so similar to those artists of 100 years ago that they would recognize my technique and result as true impressionism,” he said. “Color is my best friend and allows me to manipulate a multitude of variations in relationship to color harmonies and the effect of ever-changing light and helps me to capture the ever-changing beauty of our coastal landscapes.” When he’s not in the studio, Gray travels throughout the world lecturing on the act of creativity and aesthetics or judging; he also visits Paris and London annually and spends a month every spring in the Tuscan hills near Florence, Italy. Gray’s work is held in public, private and institutional collections throughout the world, and he is highly sought- after for commission work, especially for his ability to adapt a work of art to a pre-existing space, which makes him a favorite among architects and designers. Gray’s most recent high-profile project was creating a coastal landscape piece for the Office of the Governor and the South Carolina Commerce Department, which was then replicated and presented as a gratitude gift to the head of international corporations who initiated new business in the Palmetto State in 2017. Gray is nothing if not grateful for the opportunities his art has made possible. “To go from the pine forests and tobacco fields of my youth to being chosen as the artist to represent my state and welcoming others to the power, grace and beauty of South Carolina has been a humbling journey that has been the greatest honor of my life,” he said. Gray maintains a studio and office at Darrell Creek in Mount Pleasant. He is represented exclusively in South Carolina by the I. Pinckney Simons Gallery of Beaufort and worldwide by the Wolf Fine Art Gallery of Los Angeles. Visit his website at www.studiomichaelgray.com .